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Ghana GROWTH TRENDS AND POTENTIAL
During the 1980s, the Ghanaian government successfully
rehabilitated major economic sectors that had deteriorated since
the 1960s. Throughout the decade, Ghana saw growth in GDP and the
repair of some of its economic infrastructure. Through fiscal
austerity, the government achieved balanced budgets at the same
time that it invested in development projects. In particular, the
export sector regained some strength by the early 1990s with a
resurgence in cocoa, gold, and timber exports.
The cost of this growth, however, raised serious questions
about the long-term viability of the government's programs. Growth
has been possible only through foreign assistance and loans, which
totaled US$7 billion by 1990. Although the government has been
effective in directing these funds toward productive sectors, it
has cut recurrent spending on social services, which will require
attention in the future. Currency devaluations, while helping
exports, have increased both the cost of living and prices for
imports. Most important, the government has emphasized export
production, while subjecting import-substitution industries to
stiff foreign competition and neglecting local crop production,
leading to an increasing reliance on imports of goods and food.
Thus, although exports have increased, they have been offset by
rising imports, with the result that Ghanaians are increasingly
subjected to higher prices.
The Economic Recovery Program has succeeded in allowing Ghana
to regain its international credit standing and has curbed the
worst excesses of economic protectionism. The country is in a
position to exploit its considerable agricultural and mineral
potential. At the same time, sustained long-term growth will
require that attention be given to domestic industries and to
consumption rather than exclusively to exports and the wealth
generated thereby.
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Sources on Ghana's economic past and present are relatively
rich and varied because of the country's continuing prominence in
discussions about economic development and structural adjustment
programs on the African continent. For good historical studies, see
Kwame Yeboah Daaku's Trade and Politics on the Gold Coast, 1600-
172 and Edward Reynolds's Trade and Economic Change on the
Gold Coast, 1807-187. Polly Hill's study, The Migrant CocoaFarmers of Southern Ghana: A Study in Rural Capitalis, is a
seminal examination of African economic initiative and enterprise
during the colonial period. For the independence period, see Tony
Killick's Development Economics in Action: A Study of Economic
Policies in Ghan, Douglas Rimmer's Staying Poor: Ghana's
Political Economy, 1950-199, and Donald Rothchild's "Ghana and
Structural Adjustment: An Overview." The multilateral assistance
organizations have also published numerous studies of Ghana in
light of its prominence as a showcase of structural adjustment
policies. They include the Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development study by Alan Roe and Hartmut Schneider,
Adjustment and Equity in Ghan, the World Bank's Ghana:
2000 and Beyond: Setting the Stage for Accelerated Growth and
Poverty Reductio, and the International Monetary Fund's
Ghana: Adjustment and Growth, 1983-9. For statistics and
current information, see Ghana in Figure, Quarterly
Digest of Statistic, and Statistical Newslette, all
published by the Ghanaian government's Statistical Service, and the
Economist Intelligence Unit's quarterly Country Report: Ghan
and annual Country Profile: Ghan. Numerous periodicals
contain much information about Ghana's economy, including
African Busines, Africa Economic Diges, and Africa
Research Bulleti. (For further information and complete
citations,
see
Bibliography.)
Data as of November 1994
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